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Imagine setting out for work on a crisp fall morning and instead of boarding a train, bus or car you climb onto, or rather balance precariously, on the centre of a huge one-wheeled vehicle made for one. This is the monowheel, and it’s one of the most bizarre transport designs which has enthralled inventors for over a century and a half.
Engineers, during brainstorming sessions and design bees, looked at a number of ways of getting the lazy human from A to B. These creations involved pedals, treadles and hand-cranks to power a string of wacky creations, including, velocipedes, bicycles and quadricycles; it was from experimenting with these designs that the monowheel was born.
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Dark Roasted Blend writes:
“Just like other human-powered road vehicles of the time, early monowheels were powered either by pedals with a friction-transmission on the outer wheel or hand-cranks directly connected to the wheel axle.”
All engineers need to do now is update the design and figure out how to get the monowheel of the 21st century viable for the roads. We’re guessing it might take some planning so while you’re waiting why not take a look at a few other weird and wonderful monowheel contraptions here.
Source: Dark Roasted Blend
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Fri, Aug 29, 2008
Science/Tech